Saturday, June 28, 2008

I get a lot of requests from people wanting to promote their websites and blogs and I don't mind checking them out, it's always kind of interesting to see what's out there but the majority don't get me that worked up.

But Education.com, a new site for families about teaching and learning, is different. It's actually a place that made me a little excited--I've got it bookmarked and I signed up for their online community in fact.

But I can hear you now, "So what makes this site so darn special??"

Well there a couple nice things there:

The site is well designed and easy to navigate which is a HUGE bonus. Many homeschooling websites have decent content but they look unprofessional and are poorly planned. Education.com's layout and design shows you they're serious about what they're doing and I like that.

If you're moving and are interested in schools in a new location they have a school finder via Google Maps that gives information on all the schools within a specific geographic perimeter--though oddly enough they didn't list Northern Lights ABC school when I did a search on all schools in the Anchorage area. Wonder why Google Maps doesn't have us listed?

They have tabs called "E-Learning" and "Homework" help that sounded like places for online homework help or something but they're really just links to other software and sites that might help. I was a little disappointed about that because I expected more but then I noticed on their home page sidebar a place where you can sign up for newsletter designed by teachers for grade-specific homework help and teaching tools. I haven't signed up yet but it sounds like a wonderful tool that would especially help here in the doldrums of summer.

But the best part of the site? The absolutely most wondrous part of the whole website that will have me coming back for more? (Am I overdoing it here? Because I really love this part) The activities page. Most are craft activities that have educational application and they're good--oh yes, they're good. We'll be trying some of these for sure.

So go nose around and see what you can find to help you out--if you have kids of any age in your life then I guarantee you'll find something of interest--they even have help for the college-bound. Sign up for the community and the newsletter for homework help. Plenty of things to make your teaching job easier and more effective.

This week's giveaway is a little different because while Education.com doesn't sell toys they've kindly donated three super-great educational toys to this week's giveaway winner. The person whose name I draw will receive Zimbbos Elephantastic Stacking Toy, Story Maker Magnetic Poetry Set and the Happily Ever After crafter kit with supplies for 9 separate craft projects (ages 7 +). Total retail value? Oh gosh, I don't know--it's a lot, I need to brush up on my math skills apparently. Good thing I found Education.com or I'd be doomed.

So you want to know what you have to do to win this sweet package? Follow the directions below . . .

Here's how to win:

Before 12 am Monday go to the giveaway entry form on this page and enter your name and email. I will pick one of the names at random, contact the winner via their email and publish the winner's first name and home town in next Tuesday's post. See the bottom of the entry form for more details.

Milehimama--I'd like to know where you found that article, I did a search over there looking for the article you describe and couldn't find it. Encouraging 9 year olds to be sxually active would be horrifying but I couldn't find it--let me know would you?